From: Taggart@znet.com                             Date: 06-23-96
    To: Victor Yiu
  Subj: 7m3
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Hi Victor,

This is long, but I think you'll find it interesting.

Great site; well organized, fun to read and look at!

Let's go back to freshman year at William + Mary, first week of
college...I had just gotten my first bass for Christmas six months
earlier, nobody on the hall knew each other, but Jason Pollack,
in the room next to mine, and a couple other people on the hall
who were also amateur guitarists got together and were jamming
to "Wild Thing," about the only thing we could all play.

The summer after that year, Pollack and I were roommates in a house
of ten (5 guys, 5 girls) in a beach house at Nags Head, NC. Pollack
and I were making a living weaving hammocks. Toward the end of the
summer, a fellow named Jason Ross from Florida lived at the beach house
for a week or so. So there's the scoop on the official "magic moment."
Ross knew Pollack played guitar (and that I played bass) and had played
in a band in FL and I'm sure was eager to get something going at W+M.

A year or so later, we started playing together, and played
a couple "open mike" nights at the local campus hippie/poetry type
venue called "Change of Pace." Giti lived across the street from me
before and played in another local band that had split up when the
singer graduated. He played drums with us as a sort of improv set at
one of the Change of Pace shows. I believe it was right after that
that I decided the music was too boring for me to play (not to listen
to, but as a bass player, I like to have more interesting parts,
bouncier, like ska.) since we were doing very Pearl Jam and Jane's
Addiction type stuff. Ross's voice is mesmerising, and his stage
presence is very intense. I wanted to be in a more light-hearted
band. So I went and did that.

So that's the background. A little more interesting trivia: before
they were called "Grandma Dynamite" they were briefly known as "Yukon
Cornelius" after the fellow in the weird stop motion Rudolph the
Reindeer Christmas specials, but apparently there was a copyright
violation when they went to go record. I don't know why they changed
from Grandma Dynamite. Although 7mary3 is definitely funnier!

Flash forward to 1994. It's earth day, and about 20 bands are playing
various earth day festivals around town (Williamsburg). My band,
"Wrecked 'Um" finishes playing their final set ever at their earth day
show. Me and our singer, who was my roommate pretty much all through
college try to see the band, now called 7mary3, whenever we can (but
the bastards are charging money now and selling out shows and whatnot),
so it's few and far between. Anyway, we wander across the quad over to
where 7m3 are supposed to be playing. They've got a keg and stuff there,
but since there are so many band events going on that day, there are
only about 50 people or show at the show. The rented their own PA and
me and Adam (the singer) are trying to do sound for them, while also
trying to kill the keg. I was a good show. Pollack has really begun to
play some blazing solos, and they are now doing mostly original
material, including roderigo and margaret, if I remember correctly.
This was the last time I saw them live until...

Two years later I am in Silicon Valley working for a software company.
I'm watching Mtv one day and "Cumbersome" comes on. I nearly shit my
pants. I find out they are playing a show within the next month at a
local club, so I call up Pollack's younger brother, who is still at W+M
to find out how I can get in touch. I ask Max (Pollack's brother)if I
can get their cell phone number and assure him that I'll pay for my
ticket. "Their album just went gold, dude, I think they can probably
afford to put you on the guest list" was his response.

All this build-up is going somewhere, I swear. I've been to tons and
tons of really great rock and roll shows. I saw pearl jam on new years
eve, 1992. Never heard of 'em. They had that one single, alive, that I
might have recognized. They were amazing. Intense. I had never heard any
of their songs, yet I enjoyed them far more than Nirvana and the
Chili Peppers, who shared the bill.

The show I saw 7mary3 play at The Edge in Palo Alto, CA was on a par
with that Pearl Jam show. I didn't have their album, so I didn't know
the songs, but when they play, you can't take your eyes off them. It was
kind of surreal, having your friends be big rock stars; you kind of want
to laugh, but I didn't have anything negative to say. The lighting was
perfect. You could see the spit fly from Ross's already sweaty mouth
when he sang Water's Edge, the opener, and it just sucked you in from
there. The room was packed. I had been to The Edge many times and had
never seen it this full. Fire hazard type occupancy. I believe Ross's
comment when the lights first came up was "Holy Shit!" Even if you've
played venues that hold more people, there's nothing like having a
packed house. The energy was high, and there was this one 14 or 15 year
old kid that somehow made it on to the stage about 5 times and kept
stage diving. Ross pulled him up on the stage to show him off at one
point, saying "Now this is what it's all about; this kid's got serious
nuts!"

The best part of the show is clearly the encores. You get the feeling
that they get so intense during the regular show that the encore is when
they really let loose. They usually play some sort of cover, the doors
or CCR, something they can really jam to. And you just have to go along
with it when you see Pollack lean his head back and just soak up that
sound, mouth open, eyes rolled back into his head. After the show, he
tells me that that's what makes it all worth it. All the travelling, all
the last minutes changes (we have to fly where!? to do what!?) are all
worth it for that hour and a half of music. Although for Giti it seems
like it's his opportunity to show off his nipple rings or latest hair
color.

So the point is, I went because I wanted to see my old friends, and was
treated to an amazing show, one I think anyone would enjoy. Go see them
when you can. They may not break new ground, but the ground they cover
is good ground; it's why rock 'n' roll got to be the biggest thing
around. Plus they are just great people. Hopefully they will never get
tired of hanging out after the show to meet the fans and sign
autographs. Although they make you feel so welcome, you may feel
satisfied just shaking their hand.

-Jeff Taggart

p.s. - feel free to edit this if you want to use any of it!
also, I'm pretty sure I've gotten most of this right, but my apologies
if I screwed up any of the chronology (weird things happen in the rock
world).